Flat tire crisis... rims too

[Armitage]

So while driving late at night I picked up a roofing nail. With the run flats I couldn't tell but I got a warning on the speedo and an email from my dealer, (really).
So I kept driving to a coffee shop... I figured I could wait for the tow truck inside with a hot drink. The run flats worked great, and I used OnStar.
I had hoped the tow truck guy could fix it but all he offered to do was tow it to a dealer... three towns over.
The next big issue... the North American Corvettes don't ship with a tow hook... and warn in the manual not to hook up to the suspension and pull. The only way to get onto the tow truck (flatbed) was to drive it up.
The local Corvette dealer said they could change the tires... and they matched the best price I found. It turns out I needed all four due to the race chamber Corvettes ship with. I had about 32,000 km on them, I don't track or do burnouts.
A few days later I found they had shipped them out to someone else to change and they had scratched up my front rims and the rear ones had tiny cracks. This seems to be a common issue with Vette rims. Cracks and bends.
They sent the fronts to a place that refinishes rims and ordered two replacement rear rims under warranty.
It's been six weeks... they tell me they got the last two available and they were shipped to a holding facility in the States... that's not running because of some software issue.
I called Customer Care a couple times and they claim they've gotten my rims off the truck and they should ship up this week.
Trying to keep my cool and not go postal...

Check your rims guys and get a tow hook.

 

[XFIRE82]

sorry to hear you got all this headache over one little nail. so what kinda Corvette dealer is this that can't even change a tire ? I'd be pretty upset if all this happened to me. But yeah, one reason I quit tow truck years ago is cause no place to hook on these modern plastic cars with no clearance or place to grab. Hope you get all fixed up quick and not charged a pile .

 

[Armitage]

They told me the hard part with run flats is the first burst of air to create a seal around the rim.

 

[ddgermann]

They told me the hard part with run flats is the first burst of air to create a seal around the rim.

This is really unfortunate for you the dealership didn’t have the right machine or techs to change your tires.
You have taken this up with GM which is good. It’s not defendable that this dealership didn’t send your car or at least your wheels to a dealership that does have the right kit and people to service corvettes. I really hope GM sorts these pricks out and you receive some compensation.
I am luck in the fact I have not had a roadside tire failure but I also carry an air compressor and plug kit to get me to a dealership that does know corvettes. All my tire changes have been flawless at my dealership as they do have the right people and machine. Yes these wheels are light weight and fragile, thus the right people and machine required.

“They told me the hard part with run flats is the first burst of air to create a seal around the rim.”

Kind of the same for any tire. ☝

Hope you get this sorted soon. Sad to read the trouble you have had over 1 little roofing nail.
D

 

[XFIRE82]

They told me the hard part with run flats is the first burst of air to create a seal around the rim.

.
......wow, poor guys , I am a nobody and I have a $99.00 bead blaster from Princess, I have used it to blow up the 22.5's on my truck and the other day the rear tire on a riding lawn mower that no other way to inflate it unless you give it that quick blast of air and it sets the beads. In the old days guys would spray a shot of either in the tire and then light a match, bang guarenteed the beads would set, but that takes more skill to do that I think those mechanics are capable of. I'd call GM customer service and really complain about that dealership.

 

[Cariboocreek]

Lol. Can you imagine the stain on most millennials pants if you had them watch you ether a tire set....on their Prius....while lighting a cigarette with a zippo...

 

[Movie Muscle]

The issue with seating the bead is the run flats they can be brutal even with the best machines and very skilled techs. This is just a quickie reply on setting the bead here. I keep promising some detailed tire threads...I had started one about two weeks ago on bead setting specifically but lost my photo's and video. I will have it resent and you all shall be most entertained.

Okay, bead setting, the stiffness of the run flat side wall combined with the low profile of the vette sizing can be a real problem sometimes. They are just so stiff to manipulate and for the blast of air to push onto the wheel bead sometimes. The air takes the easier path and escapes before the sidewall moves far enough up the wheel. Even a premium 30 grand level machine can end up in a fight with a run flat. I actually wanted to video what happens at my friends place ( who has a killer Hunter machine, took 6 mos of waiting to get it when it came out). He wouldn't allow me to do it because he has developed a process for helping seat the difficult ones, that just don't want to seat. So I've been sworn to secrecy regarding how he does it.

The big truck tires will seat much easier being non run flat and having much more sidewall height. No comparison there, totally different animal. Like a soft slipper in comparison.

As far as dealers sending tires out, that happens a lot. People just don't realize it happens and most certainly won't tell you. However it is usually to qualified shops with really good equipment and knowledge. My buddies place has a dealership for a certain brand of exotic car bring their difficult stuff to him for mounting.

I have the written portion of my post for the beading issue, so just need to get the pictures and video resent.

Yet again I sign off with a stay tuned for....lol.

It will be worth the wait.

 

[tyho]

One flat, all four tires needed replacing?? Can anyone chime in on this. I find that hard to believe. Why not just two tires that are opposing?

 

[ddgermann]

One flat, all four tires needed replacing?? Can anyone chime in on this. I find that hard to believe. Why not just two tires that are opposing?

They were miled out. 30,000 KMs on them and scrubbed.
I would have done exactly the same thing and changed all 4.

 

[Rruuff Day]

One flat, all four tires needed replacing?? Can anyone chime in on this. I find that hard to believe. Why not just two tires that are opposing?

He mentioned why. The front were hatched because of the aggressive camber and caster set up on the Vettes. It wears the inside edge of the fronts prematurely. We have been talking about this on the forum since I had to replace mine on my C6 in 2014. The other rear tire was a no brainer at 32k.

 

[XFIRE82]

I've never seen a run / flat let alone tried blowing one up . Sounds like the old dohnut foam rubber ring would work on it too maybe. I still have a 14" one , just soap them up good slip over the rim and it sits between the rim and tire, give it air and as it fills the tire the dohnut just gets pushed over the edge and the bead is caught. Still think a bead blaster would work better than a tire machine as it blasts alot of air fast.

 

[ddgermann]

I've never seen a run / flat let alone tried blowing one up . Sounds like the old dohnut foam rubber ring would work on it too maybe. I still have a 14" one , just soap them up good slip over the rim and it sits between the rim and tire, give it air and as it fills the tire the dohnut just gets pushed over the edge and the bead is caught. Still think a bead blaster would work better than a tire machine as it blasts alot of air fast.

Likely not. The sidewalls are really hard and short. Virtually no give in them.

 

[Keith Tedford]

My original tires, at 13,300 miles were wearing excessively on the inside of both front tires. I did some internet searching and a couple of guys suggested that I zero the camber on the front wheels. I went to the Alignment Centre in Peterborough and asked his advice. The same as the other two. I had a four wheel alignment done and he zero cambered the front wheels. He told me that it might wander a bit above 130 mph. I will never be going 130 so that isn't a problem. I want the tires to last more than 15k miles. A year later I picked up a set of Chromed C6 rims and had Wilson Tire in Lindsay, Ontario install four new runflat tires. Not a mark on the rims and all is well and tires are wearing evenly after several years of running with about 68K miles on the odometer.

 

[Armitage]

Well I got my car back... they did an alignment but didn't use the numbers I got here, so they're going to do it again... they also didn't ceramic coat them...
GM said they'll make it up to me... I don't know what that means. But 6 full weeks to the last day...

 

[ddgermann]

What a saga for you. Glad you got your ride back. Hopefully you got yourself a compressor and plug kit. Just in case..

New tires do feel great

 

[Armitage]

As happy as I am to be zooming around again I can't help feeling a bit worried about getting cracks in my rims again and having to replace them out of my wallet...

 

[theboss]

The issue with seating the bead is the run flats they can be brutal even with the best machines and very skilled techs. This is just a quickie reply on setting the bead here. I keep promising some detailed tire threads...I had started one about two weeks ago on bead setting specifically but lost my photo's and video. I will have it resent and you all shall be most entertained.

Okay, bead setting, the stiffness of the run flat side wall combined with the low profile of the vette sizing can be a real problem sometimes. They are just so stiff to manipulate and for the blast of air to push onto the wheel bead sometimes. The air takes the easier path and escapes before the sidewall moves far enough up the wheel. Even a premium 30 grand level machine can end up in a fight with a run flat. I actually wanted to video what happens at my friends place ( who has a killer Hunter machine, took 6 mos of waiting to get it when it came out). He wouldn't allow me to do it because he has developed a process for helping seat the difficult ones, that just don't want to seat. So I've been sworn to secrecy regarding how he does it.

The big truck tires will seat much easier being non run flat and having much more sidewall height. No comparison there, totally different animal. Like a soft slipper in comparison.

As far as dealers sending tires out, that happens a lot. People just don't realize it happens and most certainly won't tell you. However it is usually to qualified shops with really good equipment and knowledge. My buddies place has a dealership for a certain brand of exotic car bring their difficult stuff to him for mounting.

I have the written portion of my post for the beading issue, so just need to get the pictures and video resent.

Yet again I sign off with a stay tuned for....lol.

It will be worth the wait.

These tires are really hard to inflate, I have a 25K$ machine to change these tires but the problem isin't the machine it's the bead that is so hard that they just wont seat even with a bead blaster, the trick is to use a lot of lub on the exterior bead, place the tire as evenly as possible with the wheel and I inflate them with a nitrogen bottle so I can raise the pressure higher then the compressor (275 to 300 psi). It is just to seat them, I dont inflate the tires higher then what it is recommended on the tire. The TPMS sensors create a restriction to. This issue is with new tires, after they have some kilometers on them it is much easer.